First-year Lady Whippets head coach Cory Guyton, who was previously at Choctaw County High School, is off to a 1-2 start in a Kosciusko rebuilding effort that includes just carrying over one player from last year who played significant minutes.
Velma Jackson escaped with a 39-37 win over Kosciusko in the Nov. 3 Holmes Community College Classic. Amiyah Greer, Kosciusko player of the game, tallied seven points, seven rebounds and one steal.
The Whippets were 8-for-30 from the free throw line, a statistic Guyton said his team hopes to improve as the season progresses and his young players gain more experience.
“We’re a young team; we only have three seniors,” Guyton said. “Everybody else is basically freshmen and sophomores, and I have a few juniors… I thought we came out a little nervous, but once they settled down, we played pretty well.”
On Tuesday, the Lady Whippets dropped a 76-36 contest against Forest that saw Kosciusko commit 35 turnovers. Katie Mitchell scored 10 points, collected two rebounds and recorded two assists en route to claiming the team player of the game honors.
Kosciusko picked up its first win of the year Saturday in the Kosciusko Shootout with a 53-44 victory over Greenwood. Talynda Boyd tallied nine points and six rebounds. Boyd was named player of the game for her efforts.
“We learned from our mistakes a little bit, being a young team,” Guyton said. “We had a great first half, and I thought we did well. We have to concentrate on closing the ball game out. We lost a big lead that could have come back to haunt us, but they showed the fortitude to maintain and pull out the victory.”
This week, the Lady Whippets face Winona, J.Z. George and Ethel as part of the J.Z. George Tournament.
With the first-week jitters behind his players, Guyton said his team is confident heading into the late-week tournament.
“We just came off of our first week, so I think the win from Saturday will give us some energy going into next week,” Guyton said. “I think that they’re motivated. I think it helped them by getting a win under their belt, and we’re going to go ahead and practice hard this week, and hopefully, we can win the J.Z. George Tournament.”
